✿ What Is the Permissible Distance for Passing in Front of a Person Offering Salah Without a Sutrah? ✿
📚 Adapted from the book “Sutrah ke Mukhtasir Ahkām wa Masā’il” by Qāḍī Ibrāhīm Sharīf
❖ Clear Prohibition from the Prophet ﷺ
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ clearly forbade passing in front of a person praying, and he did not specify an exact distance after which it becomes permissible to pass.
✦ Severe Warning for Crossing a Person in Prayer
Abū Juhaim ʿAbdullāh ibn Ḥārith al-Anṣārī (رضي الله عنه) narrated:
“If the one who passes in front of a person praying knew the burden (of sin) upon him, it would be better for him to wait for forty (years) than to pass in front of him.”
📖 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī – Kitāb al-Ṣalāh – Bāb Ithm al-Mār Bayna Yaday al-Muṣallī (Ḥadīth 510)
✦ Statement from the Tābiʿī and Jewish Scholar
ʿAṭā ibn Yasār (رحمه الله) narrates that Kaʿb al-Aḥbār said:
“If a person knew the punishment for passing in front of one praying, he would consider it better to be swallowed into the earth than to do so.”
📖 Muwaṭṭā Imām Mālik, Riwayah of Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā al-Andalusī: 385
❖ No Fixed Distance Established by the Prophet ﷺ
The Prophet ﷺ prohibited passing in front of a praying person in absolute terms, and issued stern warnings against it. Thus, the Sunnah demands that no one should pass in front of a person offering salah under any circumstance, regardless of the distance, if no sutrah is present.
📖 See:
- Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 704
- Sunan al-Kubrā lil-Bayhaqī: 907
✦ Weak Report About Permissible Distance
There exists a weak narration which says:
“It suffices if they pass in front of him at the distance of a stone’s throw.”
🔎 This ḥadīth is ḍaʿīf (weak) and therefore cannot be used as proof.
✦ Opinions of Some Scholars (Not Based on Authentic Hadith)
Some scholars have speculated based on reasoning (ijtihād):
- Three rows (saf) distance makes passing permissible.
- Others suggest that passing where the person praying can no longer see you is permissible.
📌 However, no authentic narration confirms any fixed distance as a legitimate boundary for permissibility.
✅ Conclusion
❖ There is no authentic hadith that defines a specific distance after which passing in front of a praying person becomes permissible if there is no sutrah.
❖ Therefore:
✔ Avoid passing in front of anyone praying, regardless of how far they are, unless there is a clear sutrah separating them from the passerby.
✔ The safer and correct position, in light of the Sunnah, is complete abstention from passing in front of a praying person without a sutrah.
وما علينا إلا البلاغ
